Aftermath 2
by Feathered-Lauba
Summary: they're beginning to break through my mind. chapter 2


_CHAPTER 2._

_June 8 2014_

The hotel room was dark as I was laying down on a messed up mattress. The only light that came in was from the small cracks in the windows from the wooden boards nailed into place. Nate was sleeping against the closet peacefully, as if he didn't have a worry in the world. I sighed and sat up a bit, a slight pain in my back starting to form from sitting still to long. We had pushed the spare mattresses against the doors to block any unwanted entrances. Nate whined slightly and shifted his head; man he was going to slice me in half when he woke up…hopefully that wouldn't be for a while, he needed his sleep. I didn't mind anymore, really, when I usually sleep I wake up screaming because of nightmares. I closed my eyes and let myself drift a little bit, trying to pin point the muscles that were sore and tense. Mostly my arms and legs; the broken bone pain had worn off a lot with the help of some pressure on the sore spots. I gritted my teeth silently; I had stupid theories I know. My one theory was that if you put more pressure on something that really hurts the pain goes away, apparently that only works for me…I had a high tolerance to pain and whatnot. I counted Nate's breathing silently; I had grown so used to him that I could tell when he was having a bad dream; slow, dark, heavy breathing. Or when he was having a decent dream; I would think he was dead because I couldn't hear him breath. I could feel, almost feel, Nate's heartbeat through the floor…kind of like a steady drum just beating in the distance of the Sahel plains.

_Is this the real world? Is it just fantasy? Caught in a land slide, no escape from reality. _

From Queen's _Bohemian_ _Rhapsody_, to Muse's _Uprising__, _a lot of songs, thankfully most people realize, say a lot of things about the world. Possibly their very own lives. I ignored the angry screams echoing outside; I liked Muse's _Uprising_ the best, it was really…just fantastic and fit into this crappy excuse of a planet and those…things outside. Nate groaned weakly next to me then took a long, deep, slow breath before peeking through his eyes and giving his leg a test. I had managed to make a small cast with broken wood and a stray string from a window…thing. I had pushed his shoulder back into place along with mine, man, I had never heard a guy in so much pain before. My bones, as bad as they freaking hurt, were just badly bruised but not entirely broken. Okay, fine, a lot of them were but Nate didn't need to know that. As for my back…it might be a problem later on.

"Hey." I heard a soft voice whisper, though pained he grimly smiled. I hated how it took so much energy from him.

"Didn't…didn't want to wake you up." I nodded, managing to sit up and cross my legs…with difficulty.

"I shouldn't have let you talk me into going up three flights of stairs," he groaned as he stretched his arms, then flinched as it hurt him.

"Five actually." I corrected, "But you know, you were right about one thing."

"Hm?"

"If anyone wanted to lose weight all they have to do is walk up stairs in Vegas." I joked stupidly; it was worth it to see him roll his eyes. I sat up quickly as I heard another really loud scream erupt somewhere downstairs.

Nate made a move to help me as I drew in another sharp breath as a jab in my spine sent me hurtling back down towards the ground. I shook him off before he could reach me, managing to drag myself back over the mattress and into a proper sitting position. Nate sighed and pulled out his gun anyway as I pushed up the wall, trying to gain circulation back into my legs. I could see Nate struggling to get up as well, using his shotgun as a cane when he was able to kneel without falling completely over like a dumb broom. The air was thick with sweat at our efforts to not scream and fall down in pain; I could hear our breathings go harsh and haggard as we tried to move around the room. It was beginning to become cold, not hot. I stopped by the broken window and allowed the thin streams of sunlight to itch onto my skin. It hurt like a burning icy hot icicle sliding down an un-touched vase that's been in the dark since it was created. I wrapped my arms around me; my torn jacket was wrapped around Nate's upper arm in a tight knot. I had to rip it up in order to stop his blood from pouring out. I'd rather loose my jacket than be alone…I stepped away from the light harshly and went to join Nate by out bag to inspect what we had left from the stupid attack. He was only able to save the ammunition, extra guns. I picked up what mysteriously looked like more flash grenades…and some real ones.

"I…I had some extra, and I didn't feel like carrying them around." He shrugged, moving to take it back.

"Yeah. Because lots of people just have extra grenades on them twenty-four seven." I nodded, my dry sarcasm seeming to catch up with me. Nate looked at me for a second oddly before turning his back and limping towards the blocked doorway.

"So I've been thinking. We should head to Montana."

"Unless you have a prosthetic leg or some other shit then yeah I say we go." I agreed, dragging my crap leg over to help him toss the mattress away from the door, "we're going to need a car."

"I know."

"And more food."

"I figured."

"…you already have these covered don't you?"

"No. But we will."

I rolled my eyes and hitched the bag tighter around me as he opened the door, his shotgun going out in the open then coming back to his side. Nothing made a sound to tell us that we had been spotted. I went behind Nate again, as always, and I really got to see how classy Vegas is now. I converted my eyes from the blood splatter on the walls, the carpet still wet with so much of it. It was the usual rich crimson color, but there was just so much. The ceiling was dripping blood onto us as we moved slowly down the halls, our ears alert and waiting for that one signal to limp faster. I stepped over a mauled body; the face bashed in and the limbs spread haphazardly around it. The things didn't even bother to eat them. Picky, picky. I could feel my boots become slippery on the carpet as we went down hallway after hallway; I really did not want those stairs to come up to us. There was a crack to my right and I swiveled quickly, shoving Nate against the wall and cocking my gun then grabbing my knife. The sweat on my neck ran down like a small mist of ice, I could smell the deathly scent from here. All blood and all not human.

It screamed one hoarse scream before I could hear its footfalls come charging down the hall towards the stench of our fresh new flesh. Nate's pupils were blown as pain rocketed up his body like sparks from the angle his leg was at. He grabbed my shoulder as I continued to count the steps coming closer. Nate groaned as he inched and tried to move his leg out from the painful position it was in. another scream…I could feel its eyes boring everywhere, I closed mine as I let my mind think like an animal looking for its prey. It just wanted something to eat! Why wouldn't they come out to play his little game? He'd surely let them win oh yes, he saw them. A boy and a girl, they would be a fine opponent against him. Come out already! I don't like this game! WHY WON'T YOU COME OUT TO PLAY!

It poked its head around the corner as I flung open my eyes and raised the weapons I cherished.

Jab.

Slice.

Punch.

Kick.

Slice.

Slice.

Scream.

Cut.

Stab.

Stab.

Stab.

Gunshot execution style.

Stand up. Wipe the blood off on jeans. Kick the carcass. Zone back into reality.

I looked back to Nate as he stood staring up at the ceiling; his cheek had been splattered in blood as I had sliced the things' neck open sideways the first time…or second time. I couldn't remember…he dimly looked to me as I pushed the hair out of my eyes and wiped the blood off my arms and smeared it on the wall, creating a word.

"You done?"

"We should go. We wouldn't want an accident." I agreed coldly as I carved a sign into the long blood stained wall, "we wouldn't want any…deaths to happen. Would we?"

He stared at me blankly as I took my place beside him again and resumed my back up position. We crept down the stairs slowly, making no movements to go fast, considering that we were hurt and badly bruised enough. I had enough strength to help Nate down the few flights of stairs but when we reached the bottom Nate just totally collapsed, he heaved over and vomited up dry acid and whatever he had last eaten in the past months. I looked away and struggled toward the end of the bottom hallway and peered around.

Upturned casino tables still littered everything in sight, the carpets torn up more than what they bargained for. I felt my heart beat faster as I raised my gun at something that moved behind a table…stray dog. I sighed and looked back to Nate who was struggling to not vomit from the over racking pain. I didn't need to wonder what that felt like, I already _knew._ I continued to crouch at the opening, guarding, as he began to look like less of a pale, white sheet. I counted the number of Exit's that I could see in my blurry vision. At least three down here, four more upstairs. If anything was in here with us we'd have to suck it up and run upstairs. I leaned up against the wall and let the adrenalin spike through my veins. It hit every vein with a tiny prick from a needle. Drawing out blood and pumping it through. My heart beat faster and faster with each prick. Filling me up until I could feel the ground begin to move with the new excitement of perhaps being chased. Screams echoed around me as my eyes flew open, Nate besides me with his weapons ready and tight against him. I got up and joined him with our back-to-back formation. Our guns shifting everywhere we thought we saw something, the ceilings even moved as we struggled through the massive heaps of bodies, cards, chips, and even real money…some placed in suggestive places on some suggestive people. I stepped over a casino dealers' body quietly as Nate crouched down and shot something point blank on its head. Something hadn't died on the spot…nice going. I could feel the air get colder as he pushed open the Exit door. Nothing. Not even a god damn budge. He turned to me and wiped some sweat from his brow; continuing silently onwards to the other exit past that Coyote Ugly place.

Every damned door was blocked, locked, or jammed down here! I let out a frustrated sigh as I dug my knife into a wooden table, looking around and around us. Nate was sitting and observing his cuts and broken bones. We haven't heard anything, we haven't found anything. I closed my eyes and dug my knife out, remembering something I always used to say to my dad when I played Halo._ The aliens are trying to kill you because they're guarding something. Kill them and you'll find where they don't want you to go._ Except, these _things_ weren't guarding anything, they were just trying to get themselves killed at the rate they were trying to eat at. I sighed again and moved towards an entrance, instantly pulling back as I saw a shadow move on the other side of the corner. Nate saw it too and lowered himself off the chair and into a laying sniping position. I cocked my gun and drew my knife close to my chest as it popped around. Then another and another…five of them came around the corner slowly.

Clicks, whistles, growls, barks, and screams echoed around us as they came through. I shoved myself behind a tall plant, aiming at where I guessed their heads would be at. The first one that came in was hunched over, its hand curled and bent at the chest as its mouth dripped red, syrupy blood. Its head kept twitching to the side as if it couldn't get rid of the crink in its neck. Its feet scraped against the floor, its clothes torn in half and bloody and the smell…the same but worse. The next one that came in was similar but…it moved like a fucking spider! It crawled on all fours, its neck was unusually long and the thing seemed to have sharpened its teeth the way it hissed and showed them. Blood and body parts spurted out of its mouth as it screamed. The clothes on this one were totally gone, its body was a pale sick green and black. Its scalp was torn in so many ways, and there were what appeared to be scorch marks on its back. Its eyes were just…bloodshot and crazy looking. The next three that came in were the regular customers we were used to treating. Their clothes still slightly intact as they sniffed the air viciously through their, well, where their noses used to be. Torn gashes, cut up bodies; the usual. But these first two, they looked harder to kill, looked harder to catch. That Spider Man one though, it looked liked a contortionist the way it moved its limbs as it moved along; hand, foot, hand, then foot and all over again. Like Sqweegal in that CSI: VEGAS episode.

I eyed Nate's eyes as his widened at the sight of them, he looked at me and motioned to the second one; Spidey. I nodded then made a movement with my lips. He nodded then closed one eye to focus on his target. Wait…wait for it; feel the muscles tense up…wait and watch Nate's physical emotions display on his face. I eyed Spidey out of the corner of my eye as it climbed onto the counter creepily and began to dance around like Gollum. Screaming and hurling blood and spit everywhere, I crinkled my nose. Dude, get a room to do that-

CRACK.

CRACK.

POP. POP. POP.

I stabbed the regular zombie patient in the eye and popped another cap in its head as it fell to the floor twitching and screamed; I made another slash on its trachea so it couldn't scream. Nate managed to roll out of his hiding place and bust one on the hunch backs' temple. It snarled and lashed out a hand to Nate's face and he went flying backwards, blood still flying through the air as he crashed into a chair. I brought my knife down on its head and closed my eyes as it dug into the skull and as I yanked it farther. It thrashed wildly as I did the same to its spine. I needed to see the spine, this was no regular zombie. I yanked and pulled through the flesh again and again before I saw a flash of white and I stopped. The thing dropped to the ground as I dug my knife out from its back, long dead. There was a curious whistle and click behind me. I slowly turned around only to become eye to eye with Spidey. The thing seemed to smile at me as I focused on the small black scratches around the pupil. Its breath smelled like death as I was able to count its teeth. More teeth than any human could have; like a cross between a shark and human. A shark's fin even seemed to becoming out of this thing's back.

"Ry..Den!" Nate exclaimed weakly as he struggled to get up. I could feel my life ticking by as I steadied myself against this thing, bringing my weapons up ever so slowly, even a human wouldn't notice.

It watched me quietly, its strings of clicks and whistles made it sound like a mermaid. I wish I were a mermaid, I wouldn't have to deal with this shit here. I calculated its movements, it looked like it was getting ready to spring, I noticed that its face wasn't even human…it was smashed up. Like that Alice in Wonderland beast that had clawed her arm…I think it was the one with Johnny Depp, whatever. It cocked its head to its side as I continued to stare straight ahead, smiling evilly and loving how its curious sounds turned angry; becoming faster whistles and clicks. I waited for that final sound before I would spring and make my attack…

Chik-chik-chik-chik-chiiiik-

It eyed me angrily, its hand moving to close around my throat, its blood stained hands showed no sense of backing down as I allowed it to get a few inches closer. C'mon, get closer, just a little-

CHING.

Its eyes flashed to where Nate was behind it and I got a face full of blood and brain guts all over me as Nate fired away. The thing groaned and whined a little bit before twitching and falling to the floor with a dull thud. I rose to my full height and proceeded to wipe the blood off my face. The taste…I really did not want to think about that right now. I stuck my hand down my own throat and forced myself to throw up the blood and anything in between that I might have accidently swallowed. The thing didn't even have a face as I was done vomiting all over it, oh my God, if I die from Nate's actions; I don't care I'm taking him down with me.

"Nice aim." I nodded; he shouldered his weapon and watched me as I tried to make myself as clean as I could be.

"Yeah, a bit to good."

"You could say that. So, that thing wasn't familiar, and it didn't seem like we'd see the last of that kind." I moved on, nudging the new Hybrid we had just found, Nate bent down to it and ran a finger along its back.

"It has small ridges along the spine, the regular ones only have defects of the skin falling off when they smell us. This thing…it's new all right. C'mon, let's get out before…Sqweegal here has other friends. Weird clicks and whistles yeah?" He wiped some guts off of his pants too as I re-loaded my gun and put my knife away.

"Let's just go, I'm beginning to really hate Vegas. If the next Exit is open, the one to the right, it might lead us to the underground parking lot they have."

"Excalibur has an underground parking lot?" he turned back to me, "Since when?"

"I…don't know. I just saw a hole in the side of the 'castle', maybe it's a new renovation." I shrugged, "you were here in '08 Nate, things have changed."

"Tell me the fuck about it." He agreed.

We ran through the underground parking lot as fast as we could, the screams echoed down here loudly…we had just killed two of them prowling around and we didn't want to attract a party. Nate wanted to settle for the nicer looking cars; Ferraris, Corvette Stingrays, Porches, Lamborghini's, Camaro's, and Mustang's; those show off cars. I resided on the big Hummer's, some decked out in military like armor, vans, and big trucks. Nate and I stood between a big Hummer that was taller than him by a good three feet, and a Camero that was smaller than me by two feet. He stood stubbornly next to its driver door as I leaned against the Hummer, a slight smug on my face as he was finally losing control. He finally gave up and walked next to me, hot wiring it to make sure the lights worked on the inside. He climbed in crookedly and I slid in on the passenger side, locking the doors and making sure the trunk was securely closed and that nothing else was in the car with us. Nate turned the key angrily and tested his foot, pushing down slowly on the pedal. He flinched and drew in a quick breath. He then unloaded his shotgun rounds and gave them to me silently then winked once before pushing on the pedal with the butt of his gun and the car shot forward. I let out a victorious warrior cry as we bounced up on the pavement and into the street. The air was dank with the dead smells and the bodies lines the sidewalks more than ever. A new part of Vegas we had not had the chance to visit yet. Nate jerked the wheel harshly to the right and we ran over a few zombies as they came running stupidly towards us, I reached over and turned on the windshield wipers to erase the odd red rain we seemed to be having.

Nate broke out of Las Vegas by the time he was getting tired of using the shotgun as a fake pusher for the pedal. It was around six o'clock when I noticed that Nate was beginning to drift into a painful sleep. He kept jerking the car sideways when he awoke heavily. I grabbed his shoulder and reached down to take his foot off the pedal. The car rolled to a heavy stop as Nate leaned against me with all his weight. I shook him again, feeling perspiration break against my skin as I realized that I was allowing him to contact me physically.

"Nate, wake up, c'mon. Nathan!"

"WHAT!" he yelled, snapping up and lurching forward into the wheel and banging his rib against it harshly, " OW! Fuck, not a good idea!"

"Trade places with me, you need some serious sleep."

"That could be used on you too, why aren't you breaking out and screaming because of the pain? You have more injuries than I do!" he complained but traded places with me anyway as I crawled over the dashboard. What? It's a hummer, it _has_ to have a big dashboard.

"I hold in my pain to release on something else." I shrugged as I gripped the wheel tightly in my hands, "plus, girls kick ass more than guys and we're not babies."

"I'm not a baby." Nate fake whined. I laughed harshly for a few seconds, "I don't even drink from a ba-ba anymore."

"Go to sleep. You're going to need it, here…maybe this thing plays music." I began to fiddle with the controls relentlessly as I drove aimlessly.

"Oh. My. God, if we stole some high roller casino players' car that only plays shitty country music then I'll-"

_Paranoia is in bloom_

_The PR transmission will resume _

_They'll try to push drugs that keep us all dumbed down _

_And hope that we will never see the truth around_

_So come on_

_Another promise, another scene_

_Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed _

_And all the green belts wrapped in our minds_

_And endless red tape to keep the truth confined_

_So come one_

_The will not force us_

_They will stop degrading us_

_They will not control us_

_We will be victorious_

_So come on!_

Nate laughed loudly for a few minutes as the song continued to play, the heavy bass and drums blaring out the stereo silently. I grinned and pushed the pedal a bit harder as we rocketed down the road, dust flying around us as Las Vegas screamed and tried to pull us back in the distance. The City of Sin crumbling down as the world crumbled down with it.

"_Thank_ _ you _Mathew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard for making an Uprising!" He laughed. Letting the chorus come in. Good ole' Muse, good ole' Muse.

_June 10 2014_

The road was a blurry haze of brown and blue, finally some blue skies! Nothing exciting happening other than the fact we still had to doge zombies that seemed to want to jump out of trees. Idiots, I looked to Nate who was busy staring out the window. We were well away from Nevada and if my geography was correct we'd be in…Idaho I believe. Home of the Potato, why couldn't Las Vegas be like, the City of Tomatoes? Then again, going to the City of Tomatoes doesn't sound as catchy as going to the City of Sin. Or Angels, as Nate would like to think. I had never been to Idaho before but it looked a lot like…nothing. We were curving along some stray road surrounded by hills of left over fields; the hay was still wrapped up even. It almost seemed perfect here, like someone would just walk down the road with their friends and look clean, clear and happy. I shook my head as the daydream vanished, nothing will be like that ever again. They won't know it but the world will be hanging over their shoulders because of its devastation it's had to endure. The thing is, every one wants to go to heaven and pass on into the afterlife with the sure possibility of being born again…but nobody wants to die for it. No one wants to face Death straight in the face and take his hand with a smile on their face knowing that they've conquered the hardest thing of all. Life. I let the AC chill my arms as I stretched, if I ever die in this war and Nate's alive I want him to shoot me and then somehow cremate me. Like, light me on fire or something so I can finally move on and know I'd done my best.

Nate shifted as I turned another curve, letting my gaze un-focus a little bit. The blue sky taunted us as it continued to display about. Wanting us to come outside and run around a bit, leaving our weapons in the car then get attacked out of nowhere. Screw the sky; I am NOT willing to die for those few seconds of warmth and joy. Paranoia set in as I pushed the pedal harder, feeling like someone was tracking us as we shot past the barrels of hay. _They were watching us as we made our way around the world-_no. Stop it you god damned fool! Nothing's following us, you're just over reacting, and the bomb's gotten to your head. Which brings the question; where the hell did Nate get bombs? He never got them when we crossed over into Utah and Colorado when we stopped to fill up on supplies. I shook my head; then again he would disappear when he first found me, getting food that would feed two instead of one. I blamed my touch deprivation on him; every time he'd leave I'd feel like their hands were grabbing me, trying to pull me under with them.

_Shady screaming at me to take the pain away. Me running around the house yelling for my parents to help shady. Hearing heavy screams in the master bathroom._

I could remember it so clearly.

"_Shady!" I had screamed, watching as she burst into my room blood dripping down her mouth as it spread helplessly all over her. I stood there helpless as she collapsed onto my carpet and started to have a seizure. Running to my parents' bedroom and screaming as my dad came out wielding his loaded pistol and crazily hitting the door with it even though the door was unanimated. My mother screamed as my dad pushed himself off the railing and smacked down hard on the ground below the stairs._

_I had picked up the gun shakily and ran to where my mom's screams were bellowing out from. I found her in a pool of her own blood, still in mid-bath, the bubbles spilling over the side. I had stopped and just stared. Watching her thrash about, her bare legs cut up as she tore at them. Screaming that something was crawling through them. Her arms, face…every part of her body was cut up, due to herself slicing her own skin with her manicured fingernails. I hadn't moved when she suddenly stopped, just sat so still in the tub; her head hanging lifeless over the edge, her legs over the other side as her arms floated lifeless on the water. I had walked in, ever so slowly and stared down at he scarred body. The pistol in my hand tightening as she stirred to life slightly; making the water ripple a little bit. I could hear nothing; everything in the house was silent as the dead. My house_ was_ the dead. Her eyes had opened, paling with every move she made. Her eyebrows had turned up as she saw me standing over her body with the gun in my hand. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do: stand there and watch or run for my life? She opened her mouth, which was now starting to bleed and foam at the same time._

"_Ryden," she had croaked, I had instantly knelt down at grabbed her soapy, dead hand. Knowing that she was going to die a strange death, "please….take….Shade…"_

"_MOM! NO!" I had screamed as she began to have a seizure like Shady had done in my room, "MOMMY!"_

"_GET AWAY FROM ME! RUN HONEY! RUN! SURVIVE! AIIEEE!" she had screamed, her head jerking back and forth as she seizure her way out of the tub. I had fled._

_Running to my dad's part of the bed and taking the spare bullets he kept in there. I fled back to my room, not noting how Shady wasn't there anymore. Throwing on my favorite sweatshirt and throwing on some jeans and my boots. Emptying my backpack and stuffing toiletries for girls and extra clothes in it. I shoved the extra bullets in; even grabbing my iPod touch and phone just in case. Something wasn't right here, something was _very very _wrong. I stopped instantly when I heard a curious squeak go off behind me. I turned and pointed my gun…right at Shady's head._

I gripped the steering wheel harder as lighting crashed through my mind. Going off like a siren every second, my eyes began to blur as I snarled at the memory pushing its way through the barriers. Nate didn't notice, to busy in his own memories. I wacked the side of my head once as searing, crushing, blinding pain rocketed through. No Ryden! This is not a memory you need to deal with! Let go Ryden, put it back in your head! NO I WILL NOT-

_I knelt in the blood around me. My once beautiful carpet dirty with death…dirty with the death of my sister, my mother, my father. I cried into my hands as the pistol besides me grinned. I had shot the three most precious things to me. I sobbed even harder, not caring that my jeans were getting soaked in blood. I tried to tear my eyes from the black spot in Shady's forehead, in my mothers' torso.. I stood up and before I knew it I had drawn something in the wall with my family's own blood. A design I had carried with me through the years, though it meant nothing to the outside world. It meant something dear to me. I could feel my heart grow cold as I stood there against my wall with my fists clenched in anger and disgust at myself. I vowed that I will never love again; I will never allow anyone to touch me. I will die before I accept anyone into my heart, no one else can get hurt._

_I stooped to pick up my pistol, my bag…and stepped over my family without even a second glance or a prayer for heaven…_

I continued to stare out the window as the memory relieved itself from the storage bin it had been locked tight in. my whole family, the ones that I loved until death did us part…I was a murderer, a traitor…and that symbol, probably an insult to everyone; the infinity symbol. It meant that I would forever remember what that moment was, the same symbol I had carved in Excalibur; that this war would never end. That my murders would never end. I looked down to where my wrist was, the infinite symbol carved and scarred there. I had carved it so crudely I was wishing for death to come; it had bled out so much I was so sure I'd go. But no, apparently the Powers that Be wanted me to continue to live with the disgust, hatred, and betrayal in myself. I couldn't even think of a logical explanation as to _why_ I had shot-no, that wasn't the word…why I had harmed them. Because I was scared? I had closed my eyes as they had stepped into my room, as I had fired blindly around my room. I remember opening my eyes and seeing the Inception poster fall down my wall because it had bullet holes in it. Then looking down at my warm carpet…I didn't mean to! I really didn't! Please, someone has to believe me! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! IS ANYONE THERE? PLEASE! I-

Nate's voice washed over my ears as I jerked the car to a stop. I watched as he jolted forward and rubbed at his sore ribs, he looked at me annoyed but then I guess he saw the white grip on my hands and the way my hair covered my face. The heavy breaths I was taking, the way my scar seemed to shine eerily against the brightness of the car windows. I could feel his eyes raking over every inch of me and the way I squeezed my eyes shut as I remembered the way Shady's sunken in, bloody eyes looked at me. Like I wasn't family…like I was her prey.

"Ry-"

"Just shut it Nate!" I all but screamed, "Please! Let me be!"

"All…no, fuck. Ry, something's seriously wrong here." He refused, undoing his seatbelt and reaching over to me. I felt his fingers skim my shoulder before I lashed out towards him with my knife. I didn't even know I had grabbed it until Nate grabbed the hand wielding the knife and taking it from me easily. Way to easily, "RYDEN! For hell's sake what's wrong? You've been so…Ry, you can trust me."

"Shady!" I sobbed out, burying my face in my hands against the steering wheel, "my god Nate I killed them! I couldn't…"

I let a few more tears come out before I started to feel Nate's waves of sympathy roll off of him in my direction. I bristled and let the tears turned inwards towards myself. Let them become tears of hate, Ry, let it go. Shady's dead now and- _That's exactly it you fucked up illogical brain. Shady is dead and I'm the reason for it. _I felt myself straighten and put pressure on the pedal as Nate's hands moved away from me. He knew how I dealt with these things. After all, this wasn't the first time I had broken down randomly and cried about my family. I needed to cut myself off from him for a few days, I needed to be alone. To bury myself in hatred and disgust. I stared straight ahead as we hit fifty mph. I needed this world to die already so that I won't get another chance to live on this sorry excuse. Nate sat up straighter as I curved along another bend, his eyes going sharper as he eyed a log further down the road. Poor boy, hallucinating much?

Then I peered more and nearly pressed the pedal down harder.

"Hey, wait! Stop the Hummer." He said, I rolled my eyes grimly. Déjà vu much?

"Ah, you see it too…kind of hard to miss." I slowed down the car slowly, inching forward every few seconds at the scene before us. There was a zombie eating a person, someone who was going to die in about two minutes. The prey…the persons arms were still weakly moving, only being able to lift themselves off the ground by a couple of inches; still struggling to fight it off. I put the car in park and we watched silently. Nate's eyes were so focused on the scene, concentrating so hard for no such reason. There was something obvious in this person's death; something that made me smile and something that made me frown. I watched as the thing took a bite out of the man's arm.

Another chunk…another chunk of earth was being torn away. That man resembled the earth…

I sat back in my seat as I continued to stare. Another tear, another piece of earth was being torn away. Something that might never grow back. Something that we'd miss dearly; the sounds of the birds and the sounds of the earth living. The earth has to _live._ The earth was dying away like the man's heartbeat, every beat could be his last but he'd never know. Every sway of a tree could be its very last one…if the world lives though, everything on it has to suffer through. Begging to die, but it can't because it just _can't._ It has to stay tilted horizontally in the atmosphere, slowly spinning around and around. Just hanging there even though everything on it is gone. I watched as the blood slowly pooled around the man's body, picking up a small leaf and dragging it solely on its blood red river on to the other side of the road. Like how the world will just continue to float on space as gravity drags it along to who knows where! It'll get stuck somewhere but who could save it? No one can.

"Let's go." Nate said hoarsely, watching as the person's head lolled to the side. Finally dead.

I pressed on the gas as we shot forward, inching those few feet when I heard the mysterious sound of a car noise and I looked at my side view mirror. Surprised to see a heavy white Chevy come hurtling towards us from the side. I opened my mouth to yell something but instead my head was slammed onto the dashboard and blood pooling into my mouth. The white Chevy running headfirst into my car door side. I was close enough to see the dead bugs in the-

"NA-"

Metal on metal.


End file.
